Canadian pro-family activist Bill Whatcott is now in the US – held in an ICE prison facility!

Fled Canada after phony "hate speech" conviction to seek US political asylum with “help” from US immigration lawyers.

An unbelievable story of dishonesty and incompetence that got him in this situation.

Also: Canada is seeking extradition of Bill!

October 27, 2026

Bill Whatcott is currently being held in the Northwest ICE Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.

This story is so absurd and disturbing that we almost don’t know where to start.

Over the years, Canadian pro-family Christian activist Bill Whatcott has been the target of a breathtaking amount of vicious “lawfare” by the government in that country - for “crimes” (i.e. writing politically incorrect things) that would never be crimes in the U.S. or most countries in the world.

We last reported that Bill was ruled “guilty” of hate speech by a judge in Toronto, but was free awaiting his sentencing, set for December 16.

Bill’s “crime,” his first trial and acquittal, then the government’s “double jeopardy” appeal

As we’ve documented, ten years ago in July 2016, Bill and some masked friends paid $100 to march in the Toronto Gay Pride Parade. As they marched, they passed out hundreds of flyers. The flyers included gospel messages, graphic descriptions of some medical results of homosexual behavior, and criticism of pro-LGBT politicians.

Bill Whatcott and his friends dressed up as "Gay Zombies" and handed out flyer packets as their group marched in the 2016 Toronto Gay Pride parade.

The homosexual community was livid. They held a press conference at the Canadian Parliament. The Deputy Premier of Ontario was there with other prominent politicians. Their lawsuit suing Bill (which named the Prime Minister of Canada and Prime Minister of Ontario as “victims”) eventually fizzled out.

Two years after the parade, in 2018, Bill was arrested and formally charged with “wilfull promotion of hatred.” After an intense eight-day trial in 2121, the judge acquitted Bill.

Bill Whatcott (center) and friends outside the courthouse during his trial in 2021.

But the government was obsessed with going after him. “Double jeopardy” is legal in Canada, so they appealed the “not guilty” ruling, dragging Bill and his lawyers through a successful appeals process in Canada’s leftist court system. Then came a series of hearings to schedule the re-trial.

Working with pro-family legal group PJI

When Bill was first arrested in 2018, he contacted the California-based pro-family legal aid group Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) about possibly seeking political asylum in the U.S. When he was acquitted, he dropped that idea. But in 2024 after the Canadian government was granted its appeal to retry him, Bill called PJI to begin working with them again on possible asylum.

Bill’s special permission to visit the U.S.

While waiting for his re-trial, Bill wanted to visit friends in the U.S. But because of his legal situation, he needed a special waiver from the U.S. State Department. In his application, he enclosed his Toronto flyer. The Biden Admin. State Department had no problem with it, and in 2023 granted him a full five-year waiver to travel in the U.S. In late 2023, Bill traveled through the U.S., and even visited MassResistance activists.

The re-trial and guilty verdict. Then Bill quickly crosses the border to the U.S., considering political asylum.

Bill’s re-trial took place during May 2026. It was a very hostile five-day ordeal before a pro-LGBT judge. When the trial ended, the judge said that the verdict would be announced on September 16. Before and after the re-trial, Bill often drove through the U.S., sometimes visiting friends. (It was actually the quickest and least expensive route between his home in Alberta and the courthouse in Toronto.)

On September 16, the judge announced a “guilty” verdict. Bill’s sentencing was scheduled for December 16, and Bill was free until then. He was given 24 hours to turn in his passport.

Instead, Bill immediately got into his car and drove to the U.S. At that point the 24-hour period to turn in his passport had not ended. Nor was there any warrant for his arrest. Within hours of crossing the border, he signed a contract with PJI to represent him, and to put together the paperwork to formally seek political asylum.

Bill spent a few weeks with friends in Wisconsin, then drove to North Dakota to stay with other friends.

Bill’s belongings detained and impounded at the U.S. border facility

Back at his home in Alberta, Bill had packed his belongings into a trailer. Bill’s good friend in North Dakota, Jonathan, offered to drive his truck to Alberta and tow Bill’s trailer and belongings to him in the U.S.

On September 30 Jonathan reached the U.S. border crossing at Sweetgrass, MT with Bill’s trailer. Because Jonathan was bringing a Canadian’s belongings into the U.S., the customs officers required him to stop and catalogue every item, which took several hours.

They also questioned Jonathan about who the items belonged to. He explained that Bill had come to the U.S., was seeking political asylum, and needed his belongings. He got Bill on the phone to speak with customs officers about it. Bill also quickly contacted his PJI lawyer, who emailed the customs office with the following message:

Jonathan continued to catalogue Bill’s belongings. Then he heard the customs supervisor say to his subordinates, “This seems fraudulent. I’ve decided I’m not going to allow these to be brought in.”

Jonathan argued that it was not fraudulent. But he was told to take Bill’s items back to Canada. Jonathan said he wasn’t comfortable doing that, given Bill’s legal situation in Canada. So the customs supervisor called a Canadian towing company and had the trailer towed to the towing company’s lot in Canada. Jonathan left and prepared to drive back to North Dakota the next day.

Bad PJI advice gets Bill thrown into the border facility’s jail cell!

The next morning, Bill telephoned the Sweetgrass border facility and asked about how his belongings might be allowed in the U.S. The officer was very pleasant. He said that if Bill personally came to claim them, there would be no problem. He should just have Jonathan get the trailer to the facility, and Bill could be there to officially identify it, then leave with it. It would be an easy process.

Bill phoned Jonathan and said that he was going to the border facility, and that Jonathan should get the trailer and meet him there. Bill said he was driving there from North Dakota.

Jonathan was alarmed. He said, “Don’t go. It’s a trap.” Several of Jonathan’s friends also strongly advised Bill not to go there.

Bill called his PJI lawyer. The lawyer repeatedly advised Bill to go. He said there was a “near-zero chance” that there would be any problems; he could trust the customs officers. So Bill told Jonathan, “I’m listening to my lawyer, not you and your friends.”

Jonathan got Bill’s trailer from the towing company. But he decided to wait until Bill called him from the border facility to acknowledge he was all right before bringing it there.

On October 2, Bill arrived at the Sweetgrass border facility. The Border Supervisor told him everything would be fine, just step into this office. There were two other border officers there. They asked Bill to put his hands against the wall, but then he’d be free to go. Then they handcuffed Bill, told him he was under arrest, and put him in a jail cell. Jonathan received a garbled text from Bill that indicated bad news, before the officers took his phone.

Apparently, the supervisor immediately revoked Bill’s State Department passport waiver and charged him with being in the country illegally.

Bill was in the cell at the Sweetgrass facility for several days. It was miserable. He had to sleep on a concrete floor. There was just one meal each day – of terrible food. He could not clean himself. He could not take the medicine he needed. He was not allowed to talk to his lawyer or anyone else.

The Sweetgrass border crossing facililty is the largest and busiest in Montana.

Transferred to ICE detention facility in Tacoma, WA

On October 7, Bill was transferred to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, WA, where he remains at this time. Conditions there are slightly better than in the border cell, Bill told us. He has a bed, meals, and gets the medicine he needs. He’s among hardened criminals, he said, but he’s dealing with it. No one, even Bill’s lawyer, could call him. Bill must attempt to phone them. At certain times of the day, for 35 cents per minute, he can make calls out.

Canada files with US State Dept. to extradite Bill to Canada!

Bill’s lawyer managed to find out that Canada has filed a formal Extradition Request with the U.S. to extradite Bill back to Canada! Apparently, he called the State Department and confirmed it.

Extradition is only done for serious crimes like murder, kidnapping, etc. – not for passing out a politically incorrect flyer ten years ago. The document itself is not available to the public. But on its face, since Bill’s “crimes” in Canada would not be considered crimes in the U.S., extradition in this case would appear to violate the U.S./Canada Extradition Treaty.

However, it’s still very serious, though not connected to Bill’s current Immigration Hearing situation. We will report more on this – and what people can do about it – in an upcoming post.

PJI lawyer drops Bill as a client – says he’s too busy with other clients.

After about a week at the ICE detention center, Bill was informed that his first Immigration Hearing would be on Monday, October 14 at a courthouse in Tacoma. He had not been able to reach his lawyer by phone, and his lawyer had not been able to reach him. But a few of Bill’s friends (including MassResistance) did speak to the lawyer.

When the PJI lawyer was finally contacted by Bill’s friends, he admitted to them that he had not yet done any of the paperwork for Bill’s asylum filings. Bill was pretty shocked to hear that.

Moreover, the lawyer said that the effort needed for this was substantial, and his client load is so big that he cannot continue to represent Bill. And he won’t participate at the October 14 hearing.

He said PJI has tried to find another immigration lawyer for Bill, but without success. So it’s up to his friends to find one for him. He said this hearing is just for scheduling purposes, and Bill just needs to say he needs more time to find a lawyer.

Bill attends his initial Immigration court hearing - without a lawyer!

On October 14, Bill attended the hearing alone. The judge was not sympathetic. She said he has 2½  weeks to find another lawyer. She scheduled Bill’s next hearing for November 4. If Bill doesn’t have a lawyer by then, she’ll assume he is representing himself and will proceed that way. The fact that he’s stuck in a detention center where no one can call him clearly doesn’t matter to her.

Next Immigration hearing is Nov. 4 - Bill really needs a lawyer for that one!

At this writing, Bill’s friends are working hard to find a good immigration attorney to represent him on Nov. 4. That is critical. There is a sense that the judge is looking for an excuse to simply send Bill back to the Canadian authorities. A skilled immigration lawyer could easily keep that from happening. If anyone can help, by all means contact us!

People can also donate for Bill’s legal defense HERE.

Final thoughts

As we said at the beginning, it’s hard to know how to address these many injustices. Canada’s obsession with punishing politically incorrect speech is beyond belief. And the overzealous behavior of the U.S. border officials is hard to fathom.

It’s an understatement to say that we are disappointed with Pacific Justice Institute. Let’s be honest: They basically got Bill into this terrible situation, then chillingly abandoned him. They didn’t prepare any paperwork. At one point we called their main office and spoke to the person overseeing this case. We were simply told that they can’t comment on it. MassResistance has worked with PJI in the past and had no problems. So this is upsetting. There’s no acceptable explanation or excuse.

the U.S. border officers blatantly lied to Bill. In the U.S., federal law is very clear: It’s a felony to lie to any federal official (or even conceal facts). But it’s perfectly legal (and, in fact, considered meritorious) for federal officials to lie to everyone else. One reason that Bill seemed gullible is that even in Canada, he told us, government officials might stretch the truth a bit, but they’ve never outright lied to him. This struck us as a disturbing and painful lesson for all Americans about never trusting federal officials in any situation where it may affect you.